The nation's highest honor -- the annual Israel Prize -- was awarded Tuesday night at the closing ceremonies of the nation's 63rd Independence Day celebrations. The award, which includes a cash grant of almost $22,000, was granted to 10 recipients.
Bar-Ilan University Professor Penina Klein, known for having developed research-based models for education cultivation and enrichment focusing on the mutual relationship between toddlers and the significant adults in their lives, received the prize for educational research.
Other honorees included:
Aeronautics industry leader David Hariri - Engineering
Tel Aviv University Professor Yosef Shilo - Life Studies
Sculptor and Painter Yaakov Dorchin - Art
Tel Aviv University Professor Michael Schwartz - Israel Studies
Composer Noam Sheriff - Music
Hebrew University Professor Ruth Gavison - Law
Maccabi Tel Aviv Chairman Shimon Mizrachi - Sports
Hulda Gurvitaz - Lifetime Achievement
Eli Elaluf - Lifetime Achievement
First awarded in 1953 by then-Education Minister Ben-Tzion Dinor, the Israel Prize has since been awarded each year in Jerusalem on Israel's Independence Day.
Recipients are individuals or organizations who have demonstrated excellence or broken new ground in their fields, and must be Israeli citizens, although there have been occasional exceptions.
The ceremony is always conducted in the presence of the Prime Minister, the President, the chairperson of the Knesset and the president of the Supreme Court.
Past recipients have included former Prime Minister Golda Meir, satirist Ephraim Kishon, composer Naomi Shemer, former Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Yad Vashem, the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund.